STB-DE87
Music by Brother J. L. F. Mendelssohn.
EGO
This Short Talk Bulletin is the last scheduled to be published
under the Editorship of R. W Brother Stewart Pollard who has
served for the past ten years as Executive Secretary of The
Masonic Service Association. In it he expresses personal
opinions based upan his observations in travels to almosst every
Jurisdicton in the United States.
All-too-frequently we hear of Masonic leaders being on an "ego
trip." Or, we hear that they are "stumbling over their own egos."
Then there are such remarks as, "He turned into a 'monster' after
he went into of fice," or "whatever happened to 'meeting on the
level'?"
Those comments are not all without some foundation. There are,
and have been, Masonic leaders who are carried away with their
own importance. Yes, and there are some who let the title go
to their heads, and who forget from whence they came.
Ego is a strange thing. We all should have a certain amount of
it to demonstrate our pride in our abilities, in our
accomplishments, and in our self-respect. It is only when we get
to the point that we tend to believe that we're better, smarter
or more important than the next fellow that ego gets in our way.
Masonry has never been considered a democratic society. The
Master of a lodge is not only its leader, but more importantly he
is its greatest servant. As such, he has an obligation to serve
his lodge and his brethren, not for his own glory and honor, but
for the good of the lodge. He must be prudent in all of his words
and actions, and if necessary, subjugate his own desires to those
of the lodge.
Masters, though, are not the only ones whose egos have a
tendency to hurt the Craft. Longfellow said, "Into each life some
rain must fall...." The phrase might well be reworded to "In
almost every lodge there is a nitpicker." Or so it seems. There
are some of our brethren who are never satisfied. They look for
an excuse to: criticize; to complain; to "jaw", to sound off; to
grouch;--to nitpick. Their ego, as shown by their need to be
heard, is frequently a thorn in the side of the Master and of
ficers. They have a tendency to ruffle feathers.
The Masonic Service Association recently received a letter from
an irate Past Grand Master who had read in a Masonic publication
a paper bearing the by-line of a Grand Lodge Officer in a sister
jurisdiction. It was a good, thoughtprovoking well-written
article which caused the Past Grand Master to do added research
on the topic.
What prompted his ire and disgust was that in his research he
came across a Short Talk Bulletin of twenty-five years ago which
sounded very familiar. When he compared it with the recent
publication, he found that it was word-for-word,
sentence-by-sentence and paragraph-forparagraph, identical to
the Short Talk Bulletin, yet the "author" had not had the
courtesy to give credit where credit was due. His ego had permitted him to let readers think it was his words and his thoughts.
The story has been told of a Grand Master who was so puffed up
with his own importance that his officers jokingly suggested that
his theme song should be, "How Great Thou Art." Most of us have
seen Masters of lodges who think that the title "Worshipful" was
created just for their benefit.
And then there are PAST officers whose egos won't let them
relinquish the gavel. Two people with their hands on the steering
wheel at the same time can make it an unpleasant trip for the
other passengers. If the Master is not in control of the lodge,
its an unpleasant experience for the brethren. The old
expression, too many cooks spoil the broth, is equally applicable
to the management of a lodge or a grand lodge.
Yes! An overzealous ego can and does damage our Craft. It is a
by-product of poor leadership traits, which we need to identify
early in our progressive lines. In many cases, ego can be tempted by "whispering words of wise counsel in the ear of an erring
brother." In a "worse-case scenario," when it is obvious that the
over-blown ego cannot be controlled, it may be necessary to pass
the brother over at the next election.
In The Freemason's Monitor, written by Thomas Smith Webb in
1799, he observes: "that all, who accept offices and exercise
authority, should be properly qualified to discharge the task
assigned them, with honor to themselves, and credit to their
sundry stations." The same is just as true almost two hundred
years later.
When elected to office, the brothers are confident that the
one elected has the qualifications and ability to lead and has
the best interests of the lodge at heart. He is expected to
conform to the principle of the order, "by steadily persevering
in the practice of very commendable virtue."
An often-quoted verse, titled "The Indispensable Man," is
frequently used to illustrate the unnecessary value of egotism.
It bears repeating.
Sometime when you're feeling important,
Sometime when your ego's in bloom,
Sometime when you take it for granted
You're the best qualified in the room;
Sometime when you feel that your going
Would leave an unfillable hole
Just follow these simple instructions
And see how they humble your soul.
Take a bucket and fill it with water
Put your hand in it up to the wrist,
Pull it out, and the hole that's remaining
Is a measure of how you'll be missed.
You can splash all you want when you enter,
You may stir up the water galore:
But stop, and you find that in no time
It looks quite the same as before.
The moral in this quaint example
Is to do just the best that you can;
Be proud of yourself, but remember
There's no indispensable man.
A noted management psychologist, Dr. James G. Carr of
Charlotte, North Carolina, in an article in PACE magazine,
summed it up this way:
Power-hungry people do occupy high stations in life at times
and some abuse their power; but to condemn all leaders on those
grounds-including those whose primary motive was to serve or
those who simply filled a vacuum left by the less competent or
less motivated--is ridiculous.
Even the selfish did not attain those positions by selfishness
alone. With predictable exceptions, authority usually has
something to do with accomplishment and contribution; and, in
the final analysis, we may have to concede that those who get the
most--whether selfishly motivated or not--are sometimes those who
have given the most.
The Master who completes his year in the East with satisfaction
can quote those famous American philosophers, Bartles and Jaymes,
by saying to the brethren, "Thank you for your support."
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